Clarity
by Chloe Silvers
Summary: Lincoln Lee wakes up in Olivia's apartment with no memory of why he's there and how he got to this point. "Right now, for you, the truth is a very fluid concept."
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Lincoln had no idea why he was sitting in the middle of Olivia's apartment staring into nothingness. In fact, he had no idea why he was here at all. He had been here thousands of times, but never for very long.

"Liv?" He called out, getting up from the chair that he was sitting in. "Everything okay?"

There was no answer. He walked over to the bathroom, but the lights were out and the door was open.

"Liv?" He tried again

No response.

They didn't...sleep together or anything, did they? It wouldn't explain why he randomly fell asleep in a chair, but it would explain why she wasn't here. If it was some sort of drunken accident and she woke up before he did, she would have bolted.

But if he had drunkenly woke up to her gone, he probably would have planted himself on the chair and waited for her to come back so that they could talk about it.

He gave himself a quick inspection of himself in the mirror- hair was the same, clothes weren't messed up. He just looked tired, and he had a loaded gun strapped to his leg.

He went to her bedroom. Not only was Olivia not there, but the bed was made. It didn't look like it had been slept in for a while.

It was weird being in the apartment without her here, almost like he was breaking in or something. He tapped the communicator on the side of his ear to call her, see what was going on.

Straight to a voice message. That was odd. Liv always picked up. He couldn't remember a time when she didn't pick up. It didn't look like they had slept together, so it didn't seem like she was mad at him.

Which meant that something was wrong. He tried to call Charlie, but he wasn't picking up either. He gave Astrid a call- if anybody was structured enough to make sure that they picked up no matter what, it would be her.

But she wasn't picking up. And Lincoln knew that was a statistical impossibility in itself.

What the hell was going on?

He needed to get out of here to figure it all out. He grabbed Olivia's tablet and scribbled out a little message, and opened the door to leave when he felt an overwhelming dizziness.

He closed his eyes, feeling nausea all of a sudden, and gripped the side of the door to steady himself.

Words came to mind as he breathed slowly. Familiar words that she said, but he had no idea why.

_As much as I would love to have you watching my butt, I need you here._

He opened his eyes as the nausea passed. Maybe he was here for some sort of reason? If Liv needed to do something, then it was obviously dangerous, and she needed him here to protect something. Guard some sort of device? He walked over to the side table and saw a picture of the two of them.

He picked it up. It felt as if more words were slowly filling his head again. They were hers again.

_Well, you actually owed me fifty bucks, so I was going for your wallet._

That part made sense- the picture was taken after Liv saved his life. It was the first time his pride was wounded by her, but the two of them developed their habit of teasing each other.

But then, suddenly the words that filled his head were his.

_You can't do this alone, Liv. Let me come with you._

Can't do what? What was she doing? And what was he here to guard?

Lincoln wanted to call her again, but he knew that if she didn't pick up the first time, if Charlie and Astrid also weren't picking up, then for the moment, they were unreachable.

Lincoln was alone, and even though he knew that Liv wanted him to stay here, she was in trouble somewhere. He needed to get back to his own apartment. He didn't want to mess with Liv's stuff too much, it was weird since she wasn't here.

Fringe Division's Security Section was still picking up, apparently. He got in contact with someone there, and had a team come over to guard the front door.

It seemed a little strange, since there was nobody in the apartment, but whatever he needed to guard here was important.

When he got into his car and turned it on, he saw that it was two in the morning. Maybe there wasn't anything here after all. Maybe nothing was off, and people were just sleeping. Maybe he was just tired, and he was just driving himself crazy.

He didn't feel incredibly tired as he drove- he had a demanding job and was used to pulling late nights all of the time. It didn't seem any different from that.

He pulled a three-nighter only a couple of weeks ago, and ended up fine. When he tried to focus on why he spent three days and nights working straight, he couldn't remember.

It was probably something life-threatening. It always was, maybe it was some sort of big case. It was the only reason for it.

He parked his car near his apartment building, and had no idea why he couldn't remember these little details. He wasn't so completely sleep deprived that his mind was starting to dull. They wouldn't approve of it at the Academy if they knew about that.

Maybe it could all be cured with a good night's sleep. Maybe that was all that was needed.

He unlocked his door and closed it behind him, turning on the lights and throwing his keys down on the side table. He walked into his bedroom and put his gun down on the nightstand and stripped down to his boxers before climbing in bed and closing his eyes.

His body fell asleep instantly, and he couldn't open his eyes, but Lincoln's brain still couldn't seem to shut up. Words starting flooding his mind. Some were his, others were male or female. There were some voices that he didn't recognize.

_***Flash***_

_"Makes you wonder what else we don't know."_

_***Flash***_

_"Who else knows about this?" Lincoln asked_

_"As far as I know, just Olivia and I."_

_***Flash***_

_"Lincoln, did you talk to my mom?"_

_***Flash***_

_"Hands on the wheel!" Charlie shouted_

_"Out of the car!" Lincoln shouted_

_"Which one?" The man asked_

_Lincoln was still for a second before opening the door with one hand, his gun firmly gripped in the other. "Out of the car!"_

_***Flash***_

_"Agent Dunham had a mental breakdown. She'll be out for a couple of days until she stabilizes. She'll be fine, but sir, you really need to rest. You won't heal unless you make sure that you're in the chamber for eight hours a day."_

_***Flash***_

_"How do you know her?"_

_***Flash***_

_"I'm a cabbie. I know all of the shortcuts."_

_***Flash***_

_"You're the only one I trust."_

_***Flash***_

_"I would have known."_

_"Yeah", Charlie said. "Keep telling yourself that, okay?"_

_***Flash***_

Lincoln woke up terrified and confused. He didn't remember having any of these conversations, yet they all seemed so real.

What the hell was going on?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

He examined the screen in front of him closely, eyebrow furrowed. The password that Lincoln usually used in order to access the database took a couple of failed attempts, and when he finally got into the Fringe Division Databases, it felt off. Like he didn't have access to the same files as he did before.

At the Academy, he was taught that everything had an answer- it was a matter of digging deep enough to find it. It was how he lived his life since he graduated and joined Fringe Division. As long as he stuck out a case, it would make a little sense towards the end, and the clarity then was enough to help out with the next one.

Right now, it felt as if his sense of perception was clouded, and that things didn't seem to make sense in his own head about his life. Lincoln didn't know what happened yesterday, but he went to sleep with his thoughts making sense and woke up with flashbacks that he didn't remember happening.

Maybe he should go back to the Academy and talk to someone there. Everyone at Fringe Division would think that he had gone crazy.

For a split second, Lincoln wished that he could speak to his father, which was a new feeling. His father shipped him off to the Academy the first chance that he got, and was too busy to sit down and chat about anything, but his dad had high security clearance. His father's pride would keep everything quiet- that and the faintest amount of family loyalty. At the very least, tell Lincoln to be a real man.

A message popped up on the screen- it was from Agent Broyles. Lincoln suddenly felt a bit uneasy by looking at the man's name, which was strange. Broyles had been sending him mission updates and messages for years. This time was no different. He needed to keep telling himself this.

It was a bit strange, though, that he had gotten a message to report to headquarters instead of a phone call. They hadn't worked on a major case in a day or two. But as always, they were strict orders. Even though Lincoln wanted to avoid Fringe Division until he had everything figured out in his head before Charlie or someone else said that he had cracked.

Liv would probably be reporting too, and that would at the very least put all of the worrying thoughts in his head to rest. If he saw that she was safe, okay, and that everybody wasn't answering their communicators because they were catching up on some sleep, then that was all that mattered to him.

He got in his car and drove with the windows rolled down, hoping that the fresh air would help calm his nerves. Lincoln was trying almost too hard to appear like nothing had gone haywire in his head, that everything was fine, that he was only an agent working for the good of the people. That he was simply a tool to be harnessed.

He wondered how he could fool Charlie and Olivia.

Instead of listening to the whooshing sound of the wind, there was a screeching noise in his ears as words started to flood his head again.

_***Flash***_

_"Olivia, I've been your partner for two years", he said, putting his hands up._

_"Put your gun. On the ground."_

_He kept one hand up as the second slid his hand over to his holster. He bent down to the ground. "This isn't necessary", he said as he set the gun down. _

_"Kick it over here."_

_Why wasn't she listening? He would never hurt her. "What do you think I'm going to do?" He asked_

_"I don't know", she said, shaking her head. "I don't know you. Whatever they told you? I am not who you think I am."_

_***Flash***_

_"I wish I was told sooner."_

_"You weren't told because it was classified."_

_***End Flash***_

There was a man crossing the street in his suit, and Lincoln was driving right towards him when he snapped back to reality. He slammed his foot on the brakes, the car coming to an abrupt halt before hitting the man.

The man didn't even acknowledge that the car had existed, he just continued walking. Lincoln was just thankful that he hadn't gotten flipped off, and that the car stopped in time. Maybe driving was a bad idea.

He pulled over as soon as possible, closed the windows, and stepped out of the car. Fringe Division was only a couple of blocks away.

The door to the building was within eyesight when someone randomly tapped him on the shoulder. Lincoln turned around to see the same man that he almost ran over.

"Hey man, I'm sorry about before. It was an accident", he apologized.

"It was exactly as it should have happened, Captain Lee."

How did this guy how his name? "Do I know you?"

The man shook his head. "No, but you will. I'm here because I need to warn you."

Lincoln raised his eyebrows. Great, another civilian who thought that the world was about to go to hell. Again. "Do you know anything about a Fringe event that's taking place right now?"

The man shook his head again.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I need to get to work in case one is actually happening right now. Excuse me." Lincoln started walking again.

"The visions will get worse, Captain Lee. You must realize that they are necessary in order for you to discover the whole."

Lincoln froze in place before turning around again. "What do you know about those?" he demanded

"Right now, for you, the truth is a very fluid concept."

"Who are you?"

"Stay with them, Agent Lee, and everything will be clear soon."

Lincoln reached for his gun, but before he could threaten the man in the hat, he disappeared. Lincoln let out a sigh, and putting his gun back in the holster, climbed the stairs and opened the door.

He put his hand on the scanner at the wall and stepped into a white room that suddenly flashed red before turning white again. A door suddenly appeared in front of him, and taking the hint, Lincoln opened it and stepped through the threshold.

It was some sort of lab, which was not exactly out of the ordinary since the Secretary was a scientist and they all eventually ended up reporting to him. He was halfway across the room when he saw something odd.

Liv was glaring at somebody who looked just like her, except she was blonde, and the Secretary was looking at a man looking just like him, except for the sweater that he was wearing.

Lincoln didn't think that he had ever seen the Secretary in anything other than a suit, but if Liv magically decided to go blonde one day? That would be okay with him too.

He didn't know what it was about watching the two of them together other than the obvious excitement of there being two of her.

Memories that weren't his started to take over again. The pounding headache returned again and everything felt as if it was suddenly slipping away from him.

_***Flash***_

_"All I know is that she was scared. People were trying to convince her that she was someone that she wasn't."_

_***Flash***_

_"With all due respect, sir", Lincoln started. "If there's any truth to what he's saying, it could be a lead. I need to know- was our Agent Dunham replaced with theirs?"_

_Secretary Bishop turned from his view of the window and faced him. The man stepped forward and Lincoln suddenly became afraid of his own boldness, but kept still nonetheless. He needed some sort of confirmation._

_"She was, yes."_

_***End Flash***_

Lincoln tried to stay with the visions, try and get more, but there was a loud snapping noise in his face that seemed to echo before he could hold onto anything else.

Charlie was looking at him strangely. "You doing okay, there, buddy?"

No. He wasn't okay at all. If this was the truth, then that meant that Liv was swapped with another one, possibly switched again when the time was right. And Lincoln had no idea.


End file.
